Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Angel Oliveras, assigned to Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, and eighteen fellow Sailors representing commands from around the world are currently in Marquette, Michigan, participating in the 2015 All Navy Wrestling Mini Camp.

The camp, split between Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, is being held at the United States Olympic Education Center on the Northern Michigan University campus. There, the Sailors will be pitted against each other and the resident athletes training year round in the hopes of being selected for the U.S. Olympic Team.

"Wrestling with the top wrestlers the Navy has to offer is both grueling and rewarding," said Oliveras. "I'm taking away new techniques and learning new avenues of approach."

"Oliveras is a no holds barred competitor," said Navy Diver 1st Class Ale Delapena, coach of the All Navy Team. "He fights for every move and just has no quit in him."

Oliveras will spend five weeks training and vying for a slot on the 2015 All Navy Wrestling Team and a chance to represent the Navy at the Armed Forces Championships March 25-29 at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. At the conclusion of the championships higher level wrestling opportunities exist, with the possibly of earning his way onto the United States Olympic Team.

"This is an incredibly hard opportunity but well worth the work," said Oliveras. "This is an experience that I will always cherish."

The most recent Olympian who passed through the Navy wrestling team was Adam Wheeler, a former Coast Guardsman, who earned a bronze medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Rob Hermann, head coach of Greco-Roman wrestling at Northern Michigan University said, "Navy wrestling is not an intramural sport, you're going to compete against the elite of the Armed Forces."

"I have been waiting eleven years for a wrestling team like this one," said Coach Delapena. "All wrestlers have shown strong potential. No one has quit and they keep pushing themselves to improve."

All Navy Wrestling provides an opportunity for Sailors to compete at the highest level outside of the service academies. At the completion of the Armed Forces Tournament, gold medal winners are eligible to represent the United States in the Conseil International du Sport Militare (Military World Championships).